FOOTNOTES.

‘Edward had annexed Wales to the kingdom of England, but the Welsh were displeased with this usurpation, and determined to yield no obedience to any prince but of their own nation and language. Edward thought of an expedient for cozening them. He ordered Eleanor, in the depth of winter, out of England to Caernarvon Castle, there to lie in. Edward then summoned all the barons and chief persons throughout Wales to meet him at Rhuddlan, to consult about the welfare of their country. He told the Welsh nobility that they had often wished for a prince of their own country, who might rule over them. They promised to allow of such an appointment, and to obey such a personage. Edward then mentioned his own son Edward, recently born, maintaining the terms of the engagement to have been strictly complied with, for his son was born in Wales, could speak no English, and his character irreproachable. Though born in 1284, it was not before he had reached his 16th year that Prince Edward received the reluctant fealty of his deluded subjects. The eldest sons of the English monarchs have subsequently been styled Prince of Wales, and, independently of birth, been created so by letters patent.’—Nicholson.